Peter Weir Quotes

People always ask why I don't make independent movies. I do make independent movies - I just make them at Sony and Paramount.

I think everybody's contemplating TV now, because mid-level and high-budget independent films are not being made now.

Sometimes it's hard for me to tell the difference between independent filmmaking and studio filmmaking because all the studios have these little independent satellites. It's interesting.

The independent films are really where I kind of come from and where I feel comfortable. It's never been about the blockbusters and making a huge tonne of money. It's always been about wanting to do projects about the things that I think are important to be out there.

The biggest challenge is how you get money for independent films, in these ever-changing times when most people don't really want to invest in that anymore.

'Five Easy Pieces,' 'Easy Rider' - those are indie pictures; those were not studio pictures. They had relationships with studio distribution, but they were indies.

The great thing I think when you do independents is that people are really there for the same reason. They're not there because they got a lot of money and they want to just go home and get it over with. They're there because they believe in the script or the director or the cast or whatever it is, and they want to make it work.

It will never be Hollywood, the same way people think it should be. I think it will grow and it will be healthy and it will expand into more than one production house.

While more great films are being made every year, it is increasingly difficult to get indies into theaters or on TV.

I suppose the real cult things now are independent films made for a million pounds.

I haven't done a lot of studio movies, but studio movies and independent films are always just as fun as each other.

There was a golden era in film-making in Hollywood back in the 1970s, and although there is some great independent film-making in America, it's actually very hard to get independent films made in the United States. It's much more feasible from Europe.

I really love independent films. There's something so determined about the people who work on them.

I guess in Australia every film is sort of an indie film because there are no studios.

The size difference on a Warner Bros. film versus the small productions I had been on in Europe was enormous. You go from 20 people on set to 150.

You cannot make a living doing independent films.

I come from a background of independent films.

There is a great tradition of independent filmmaking in the U.S. that I absolutely respect. There's some wonderful stuff that comes out in this country against all the odds.

I think that in America there is a new movement of underground movies that wants to kick the ass of independent films that they think whine too much.

When independent films break through and actually make it into any level of mainstream-ness or get seen by people or find a life actually in theaters, it's extraordinary. And it doesn't happen that often.

You know, independent films have been institutionalized, practically. Every studio has got a boutique arthouse label. There's like, 18 different independent film-financing funds. In fact, I think the children of those films are getting made. A more interesting question is whether those films are going to get seen and appreciated.

I think it's all independent films. There aren't any! If they were looking for me when I was making Polyester, then it'd be perfect, but they're not. I'm not looking for that. TV is much bigger and better now; far more people see it.

I think the art film, or the auteur-driven film - and not only foreign, but domestic films following that path - can get a small share of the box office. And I think that small share may open up a little bit.

It does feel like the middle ground has fallen out. I'm only saying that from personal experience, saying, "I'd like to make that movie" and hearing, "Oh, they're not making those types of movies anymore."

My forever mission is to take the best elements of both commercial and independent films and bring them together. I learned so much about the art of independent films and I have so much fun in commercial ones. I think that a mix of both is good.